Rahil Gangjee takes pole position in PGTI golf

Kolkata, June 20 (IANS) Local lad Rahil Gangjee shot a solid three under 66 to surge into the lead on the third day of the PGTI Players Championship here Friday. Gangjee has so far accumulated five under 169, while Arjun Singh and overnight leader Harendra Gupta trail Gangjee by one stroke to jointly share the second position.

Ashok Kumar, Anirban Lahiri and Neil Mundra are a further stroke behind in tied fourth place while local hero S.S.P. Chowrasia is 10th at one under 173 as he shot 68 Friday.

The par for the course continued to be 69.

Rahil’s superb 66 included five birdies and two bogeys. Gangjee, who had shot 34 and 69 in the first two rounds, began slowly on the penultimate day of the tournament with bogeys on the second and third holes. He then came back strongly with birdies on the fourth, eighth, 11th, 14th and 18th.

“I always have a good round when I begin with bogeys. Today was no different. I started by dropping a couple of strokes but then made a good comeback,” said Gangjee.

Arjun’s 65 was the best score of the day, and included birdies on the fourth, fifth, eighth, 15th, 16th, 18th and bogeys on the 11th and 12th. His total now stands at four under 170.

Arjun said: “I’m really pleased with my performance today as I’m now very much in contention. It could have been better had I not hit a couple of bad drives to the right on the 11th and 12th.”

Harendra Gupta (33, 65, 72) shot three over 72 in round three to slip into tied second.

He had a forgettable front nine as he dropped bogeys on the third and eighth and a double bogey on the sixth. His lone birdie came on the 15th.